Portrait of a Character – Jim Warren
Origins
Jim Warren founds a dynasty. As a part of the Concord book, it made sense to add a character who would be able to do a lot of the heavy lifting at the Hayes farm while Jacob was off to war. Benjamin was really too old, so I came up with Jim. Jim is named for the Huckleberry Finn escaped slave character, although he and his family are not slaves (however, it’s possible their ancestors were brought to the Americas as slaves originally).
Portrayal
Chiwetel Ejoifor as Jim Warren (image is provided for educational purposes only)
Jim Warren is played by actor Chiwetel Ejoifor. Because I used this actor to portray Anthony Parker, that signals the sharp-eyed reader that Jim is Anthony’s ancestor.
Personality
Friendly, upbeat, and with a bit of a wicked sense of humor (see the quote; he’s teaching Malcolm how to milk a cow), Malcolm relies on Jim almost as much as Charlotte does. Malcolm refers to Jim as the farming expert when they work together. And this is absolutely not what would usually happen in an interaction between two men of different races during that time period. Malcolm, of course, is a man of the future, but Jim is certainly not. So does this conversation change Jim and even give him confidence? Maybe it does; that’s an interesting idea and I may write something about that some day.
Relationships
Jim has no known relationships. However, he clearly marries and fathers at least one child, as he is part of the foundational stock for the Warren and Parker families. So he is an ancestor to both Rosemary Parker and Lakeisha Warren, and a more distant ancestor of Anthony Parker. Jim is a key character in the timeline.
Mirror Universe
Mirror Jim Warren
Jim must exist in the Mirror Universe because Anthony Parker is from there. The Mirror is a rough place, and agriculture is not favored. Hence it is entirely possible he would live in grinding poverty unless he took up arms. And this would not necessarily be a race-related issue; I feel it would relate more to class.
Quote
“You gotta do more’n that, sir. You ever had a woman who had a lot up here? And she, uh, maybe didn’t mind if you were a little, um, rough? Do it that way.”
Upshot
As I’ve noted in most of the other biographies from this book, I would love to write a sequel to Concord, but there just doesn’t seem to be a good place to put it.
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